Manchester’s Trees and Wooded Areas
An iconic part of the North West region, Manchester is highly regarded for music, sport and a generally impactful contribution to British culture. Formed from a cluster of towns and cities, the county is unsurprisingly classed as mostly urban, but with 13 woodland areas that spread across a total of 313.7 hectares.
Between the City of Manchester and an extensive number of other urban areas throughout Greater Manchester, the county has an abundance of developed locations. In terms of urban areas with the largest populations, locations include the City of Manchester, Bolton, Sale, Salford, Rochdale, Stockport, Oldham, Wigan, Bury, Atherton and Altrincham.
Despite a majority of urban areas over rural areas, Manchester has more than 11 million trees. According to a survey from All Our Trees – a tree strategy for the Manchester area – trees in the county produce around 122,450 tonnes of oxygen and soak up around 56,530 tonnes of carbon annually. Working in partnership with the Manchester All Our Trees initiative that pledges to plant three million new trees across the county, the local council shows an intention to retain valuable trees before adding further valuable trees to the area.
Local authorities all over Manchester are within their right to conserve, preserve and protect existing trees and other natural features within their jurisdiction. Trees are an important component, and developers will need to ensure that protected trees aren’t under threat as a result of their planning project. Manchester is an area growing in value and popularity, so it comes as no surprise to see more developments in the county year on year. But before a developer can reasonably develop on land where trees are present, they will need to arrange a tree survey with a trusted arboricultural consultancy.
Policies to Protect Trees
Current tree protections in action that are designed to restrict potential impact on surrounding trees apply to all of Manchester, including Bolton, Bury, the City of Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. Within all of these areas – as well as all other parts of England and Wales – the primary protections over trees are tree preservation orders (TPOs) and conservation areas.
Both a tree preservation order (TPO) and a conservation area are similar in the sense that they are controlled by the local council, and affected trees require consent from the corresponding authority before any work is carried out that could potentially damage or disrupt them. The difference between the two is that a TPO will apply to individual trees and a conservation area will apply to all trees within a designated zone.
Manchester Local Authorities
- Bolton Council
- Bury Council
- Manchester City Council
- Oldham Council
- Rochdale Borough Council
- Salford City Council
- Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
- Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
- Trafford Council
- Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
Tree Reporting
Instead of attempting to navigate arboricultural obstacles alone and hoping that you are capable of convincing your planning officer to grant a planning condition on your site, an arboriculturist can guide you through the process. An effective method of utilising their knowledge and understanding of trees and the planning process is through a British standard BS5837 tree survey. On a set date, an arboricultural consultant will inspect all trees on or in close proximity to the site before brandishing them with a grading based on a reflection of their quality and their physiological and structural condition, including indirect or direct damage and any structural defects.
A mitigation hierarchy will be used to determine a suitable outcome for each tree, with trees that are valuable, in good condition or unaffected by the proposed development retained on the site. In some circumstances – such as when the plans of the project cannot be altered to cater to obstructing trees if the trees are in poor condition or possess no value, or if the trees are likely to cause a hazard to individuals on the site – retained trees will not be a viable outcome and tree surveyors will have to relocate the specific trees or, if they aren’t worth saving, destroy them and replace them with new trees of equal value.
Last but certainly not least, the arboriculturist in charge of all tree surveys and reports will assemble a tree report to support the developer’s application for planning consent, with the same being applicable in a British standard 5837 tree survey. Such a report will contain details about the process for expert tree surveys, information from the site regarding trees present in the form of a tree constraints plan (TCP), the next steps for trees obstructing the development, and any advice on additional surveys required on the proposed development site. As all arboricultural constraints will be addressed and eliminated, the planning officer from the local planning authority should see all they need to allow the developer to obtain planning permission.
Experts in Tree Inspections
Containing an assortment of arboricultural consultants with the necessary experience in producing extensive tree reports, indexing tree stock, managing tree safety and tree life expectancy, evaluating risk management, and offering arboricultural advice and method statements on present and surrounding trees, we are a leading figure in providing arboricultural services to both private individuals and commercial clients for trees in relation to design, demolition and construction work. Each of our tree consultants also has the necessary level of professional indemnity and public liability insurance cover, and following any and all tree surveys in Manchester, we will be able to put forward the necessary suggestions and recommendations to bolster planning conditions.
During a simple site visit, members of our arboricultural consultancy will provide tree surveys and protect specific trees in a way that uses a pragmatic approach, operates within the coverage of professional indemnity and public liability insurance, and distinguishes the best course of action. After you have received the required arboricultural survey reports, we can offer assistance on any further arboricultural survey you need to support planning applications, mortgage purposes if requested by mortgage providers, health and safety purposes, or simply as the next step in the arboricultural survey process via the use of Tree Protection Plans (TPP), an Arboricultural Impact Assessment (AIA) and an Arboricultural Method Statement (AMS).
Ask for a Free Quote
Organising a tree survey in Manchester early with several weeks’ notice would be advisable, particularly as it could help to see potential arboricultural issues and tree problems early on to benefit the development plans. Additionally, booking a spot with one an arboricultural surveyor as early as possible will also guarantee a date and time that suits your needs and, as a result, prevents any unnecessary delays. The local planning authority can then receive the corresponding tree report, and any issues relating to trees on the site in the eyes of the planning department will be eliminated, making it easier to achieve a successful planning application.
You may need a tree survey for any number of reasons, from a tree survey for planning and developing land to various other tree survey services such as a tree protection plan, tree risk assessment and tree safety surveys. Whether we are assisting developers, tree owners or other people involved in the development process, our tree consultants can play a crucial role in combatting wilful damage to trees and fulfilling arboricultural requirements to the corresponding local planning authorities by conducting ground-level Manchester tree surveys and producing a tree survey report for each tree related to the site and other relevant trees nearby.
By providing our team with the specifications of your site and project, we can issue you with an accurate quote for tree management and surveying services. If you would like a free quote with one f our tree consultants in Manchester based on the details of your project such as the nature of the project and the site address, simply contact us online via the quick quote form or call us using the number above. Once a suitable date has been chosen, a tree consultant will attend your site for a BS5837 tree survey or another form of tree survey as required and help you with earning a planning application from the local authority.